


I'll take the truth at any cost

by Nito



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, F/M, Implied/Referenced Character Death, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29335527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nito/pseuds/Nito
Summary: The war is lost, and Sakura has been tasked with preventing the end of the world. Namely, by saving Obito and Rin - somehow.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy, Nohara Rin/Uchiha Obito
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21
Collections: Naruto AU Week 2021





	I'll take the truth at any cost

The war wasn’t going well. In fact, they were losing. Headquarters had been destroyed, the five kage missing in action, and what was left of the shinobi army was scattered.

Sakura huddled at the mouth of a cave, along with Kakashi, Shikamaru, and a dozen stragglers she didn’t recognize from other shinobi villages. She tried not to think about where the rest of her comrades may be.

Kakashi and Shikamaru had been muttering together in the corner for some time, which was concerning on several levels to Sakura. The night sky held no stars, and the wind was unforgiving. Sakura shivered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Kakashi move, and he began to draw a sealing array in the dirt with his foot.

Why they had decided to send their only surviving medic nin back in time, Sakura didn’t know. It was obvious they didn’t expect to win, even with her healing abilities.

Kakashi cleared his throat, commanding her attention. The look on his face made her stomach churn - pure resignation, acceptance, and not enough anger. 

“In order to understand what I want you to do, Sakura, you’ll have to know about how I got my eye,” Kakashi said, gesturing to his Sharingan. “And the events leading up to it.”

They sat, and Kakashi quietly told her the story of Kannabi Bridge, about Obito and Rin. His voice never wavered but became strained when he mentioned Minato, Rin’s abduction and death by Kiri (death by his hands). They knew now about Obito, his rage, the destruction he had caused.

“It all comes back to me,” Kakashi said, raising his hand to quell Sakura’s protest. “If you can save Obito, or Rin, or both,” his voice did shake at that, and Sakura pretended not to notice. “Then maybe there won’t even be a war.”

“That may be a little too hopeful, Kakashi-sensei,” Sakura said drily. The corners of Kakashi’s eyes crinkled. He tussled Sakura’s hair.

“You’re my best student, Sakura-chan. If anyone can accomplish this, it’s you.”

Nevermind that she was probably his only student left.

Kakashi clapped her on the shoulder and stood. Sakura stood and followed him over to the sealing array that took up most of the cave floor. He dug his hands through his pockets, before pulling out some kunai, shuriken, and a bright orange book.

“Kakashi-sensei. Are you fucking kidding me.” Sakura accepted the weapons that were thrusted into her hands, the chakra tablets an Iwa nin gave her, some senbon from a Suna nin, a pack of cigarettes from Shikamaru.

“You might find it useful,” Kakashi smiled. “Just trust me.” She plucked the book from his hands between her thumb and finger, as if it was dirty. Which it was. Aside from Icha-Icha, it was as if the remaining shinobi were giving her all their hopes and dreams to carry. Which was far too much. Bile began to rise in her throat and Sakura clamped her mouth shut. She knew she was leaving them all to their deaths, in order to save them.

Shikamaru led her to the center of the sealing circle. The remaining shinobi surrounded her, forming the appropriate hand signs under Kakashi’s instruction.

“You can do this, Sakura. Don’t forget to live a good life, after.” Kakashi smiled, genuinely, as if he wasn’t sending off his last student to their possible doom.

Sakura had no time to reply before the array lit up a bright blue, her ears filled with a loud buzzing, before everything went black.

-

When Sakura woke up, she knew she was in the forest surrounding Konoha. And immediately realized there were several flaws in this plan. Should she somehow enter Konohagakure and petition the Hokage, and explain that she’s a time traveler - what her mission was? Telling the Hokage that 2/3rds of his genin team were going to die, including himself and his wife, was a fast track to the Torture & Interrogation Unit. 

Sakura stood and dusted herself off. It was winter, and if the time travel sigil worked correctly, then the events at Kannabi Bridge weren't until spring. She started to walk towards Konoha.

_ ‘Better make sure Obito is alive, first,’ _ she thought.

It was almost impressive how little Konoha had changed. It looked almost like she remembered growing up. As she approached, the guards at the gate eyed her warily.

Right. A kunoichi with a “shinobi” headband and Konoha gear with bright pink hair. Of course. Sakura sighed. She had already made this difficult for herself. She removed her headband in front of the guards, and shoved it in her back pocket. She splayed her hands out in front of them, to assure the guards she held no weapons and would weave no hand signs.

“You should probably take me to the Hokage.” Sakura frowned. It seemed like her worst plan had become her only plan.

It made Sakura’s heart ache to not see Tsunade-sama sitting, annoyed, at the Hokage’s desk. Minato Namikaze looked rather cheerful, in fact, before meeting her serious gaze.

He looked a lot like Naruto. Spitting image, in fact. Sakura knew it was probably too early for Naruto to even be thought of yet, much less born. Along with the rest of her friends.

What was she supposed to say to him? Minato looked at her expectantly. Not knowing what else to do, she bowed.

“Hokage-sama.”

“Who are you,” he said, not unkindly. “And what is your business here?” 

Sakura took a deep breath. 

“My name is Sakura Haruno. I’m a Konoha shinobi from the future. A future that I must prevent.”

The Hokage’s brow furrowed, his expression almost comically thoughtful. 

“And why should I believe that?” 

Sakura blinked. How was she supposed to prove herself? She almost smacked her own forehead, the answer obvious. Slowly, and making her intentions clear to the Hokage, she reached into her back pocket, pulling out a ripped, worn copy of Jiraiya’s Icha-Icha Paradise. She gently placed it on the Hokage’s desk.

“This book hasn’t been published yet.” She tried not to smile as Minato opened the front cover and examined the publishing information. The author’s name. He flipped a few more pages and his curiosity turned into shock as he flushed bright red.

“I… this… I only have more questions, Haruno-san.” Minato stammered, shutting the book and pushing it back towards her.

“Then allow me to explain, Hokage-sama.”

Sakura took some time to explain the more nebulous concepts of the war. She didn’t know how the time travel jutsu worked, or its ramifications. There was a lot that she could say that could disrupt the time-space continuum - not that anyone had explicitly warned her about that. But, she told the Hokage about how the shinobi villages had banded together, revealed her shinobi hitai-ate, and about the bravery of her comrades. As to her purpose? Sakura had to be more subtle.

“How do you think coming back in time to this point could prevent the war, Haruno-san?” Minato was listening intently now, she could practically see his mind whirling with the possibilities and implications of what she was explaining.

“You can call me Sakura, Hokage-sama. Unfortunately, I believe I have to keep my intentions vague. Anything I say may lead you to make different choices that could potentially make things worse.”

“And you know what choices to make that would be better?”

Sakura shrugged. “I have a couple of ideas.”

Minato raised an eyebrow. “Will you tell me or do I have to guess?”

She smiled at that. He pouted just like Naruto does. Or used to. Or will.

“Make me the jounin-sensei of your genin team.”

“Are you a jounin, Sakura-san?”

“Sure.”

Minato put his face in his hands. “I’m going to trust you. The things you’ve told me are too specific for an enemy ninja to know, and you seem to have good intentions. However, I will assign you an ANBU member. Just for transparency.”

Sakura nodded. As long as it wasn’t Yamato-sensei, she was fine with that. 

“Any chance you’d allow someone from Interrogation to -”

“No.” There was no chance she was going to have Ino’s dad rifle around in her memories. The man would probably end up in the hospital. 

“Worth a shot. I’ll speak to a few shinobi in Disguise and Infiltration and see if they can somehow create a credible identity for you. In the meantime, I’ll set you up with an apartment we assign to clanless ninja.” Minato rattled off the address and handed her a set of keys and 100 ryo for the week. It dawned on her that the apartment was the one that Naruto grew up in, she recognised the area and the building number.

It was cleaner than she remembered. Sakura shook off her worries, and her concerns of how readily the Hokage accepted her story. He essentially just allowed her to do whatever she wanted. Was she really that convincing?

Her hand brushed over Kakashi’s copy of Icha Icha. Maybe that was it. She missed the bastard.

It was strange to not be at war. Sakura felt tense, like a white Zetsu was going to pop out and knife her in the gut at any moment. She took a shower, and brushed her hair. 

Sakura looked like hell.

She carefully folded her hitai-ate and flak jacket, removing its contents and organizing her weaponry. She’d have to buy food and more clothes tomorrow - namely pajamas.

But she was tired. For a 17 year old, her bones and muscles ached beyond their years. Sakura fell into a fitful sleep, without dreams.   
  
She awoke the next morning feeling better, at least physically. The back of Sakura’s mind was still grappling with the fact that technically she wasn’t born yet and older than Kakashi-sensei.

Sakura ran to the market for the basics, ignoring her ANBU shadow (definitely a woman not too much older than herself) and bought a few more outfits. Thankfully shinobi fashion doesn’t change much, and she picked out a few more pairs of plain trousers and shirts. Later that day, the Infiltration unit provided her with an identification card (same name, thankfully) and a proper Leaf Village headband. She shoved her old one into the back of her dresser drawer for safe-keeping. And because it hurt to look at.

After days of waiting, being watched by ANBU, and more conversations with the Hokage, Sakura was finally going to meet them. She arrived at the Hokage’s office early - she was never going to be a late sensei - and waited for her cute little genin to show up. 

Well, two cute genin and Kakashi Hatake.

They were adorable. Obito looked annoyed, Kakashi looked suspicious, and Rin took cues from her two teammates, but looked curiously at Sakura.

This was going to be fun.


End file.
